De Stael’s Corinne, Or Italy gives us an insight about nineteenth century women writers, how they were perceived in society and how they thought about creativity. In terms of inheritance, when thinking about Corinne, we cannot think about any material or monetary inheritance, but about her art and national heritage. Corinne inherited major works that affect her and which she incorporates in her performance such as Romeo and Juliet. The questions remains, nonetheless, what did Corinne inherit as a woman? More precisely, what did she inherit from other woman writers? Gilber and Gubar’s Infection in the Sentence: the Woman Writer and the Anxiety of authorship explains that “eighteenth- and nineteenth-century foremothers struggled in isolation that felt like illness, alienation that felt like madness, obscurity that felt like paralysis to overcome the anxiety of authorship that was endemic to their literary subculture” (293). When Corinne falls in love with a dull, melancholic and overly emotional man, she is willing to give up her art just to be with him. The tension that Corinne faces between her passion for art and her love for Lord Nelvil weakens her strength. I think lacking a heritage or guidance of a female predecessor causes part of Corinne’s loss. Gilbert and Gubar explain that “the loneliness of the female artist, her feelings of alienation from male predecessors coupled with her need for sisterly precursors and successors, her urgent sense of her need for a female audience together with her fear of the antagonism of predecessor male readers” (283). Not only does Corinne lack a female artist predecessor, but also she lacks a supportive parental figure. Her stepmother who is supposed to be like a mother figure is actually working against her. On the other hand, Lord Nelvil’s inheritance from his father leaves him with guilt, grief and a legacy not to merry Corinne. Lord Nelvil, at the end, proves to be more determined that Corinne who is willing to give up her career to be with him. Lord Nelvil, on the other hand, finds a more powerful inheritance that makes him follow his father’s legacy.
Corinne inherited major works that affect her and which she incorporates in her performance such as Romeo and Juliet. The questions remains, nonetheless, what did Corinne inherit as a woman? More precisely, what did she inherit from other woman writers?
Gilber and Gubar’s Infection in the Sentence: the Woman Writer and the Anxiety of authorship explains that “eighteenth- and nineteenth-century foremothers struggled in isolation that felt like illness, alienation that felt like madness, obscurity that felt like paralysis to overcome the anxiety of authorship that was endemic to their literary subculture” (293). When Corinne falls in love with a dull, melancholic and overly emotional man, she is willing to give up her art just to be with him. The tension that Corinne faces between her passion for art and her love for Lord Nelvil weakens her strength. I think lacking a heritage or guidance of a female predecessor causes part of Corinne’s loss. Gilbert and Gubar explain that “the loneliness of the female artist, her feelings of alienation from male predecessors coupled with her need for sisterly precursors and successors, her urgent sense of her need for a female audience together with her fear of the antagonism of predecessor male readers” (283).
Not only does Corinne lack a female artist predecessor, but also she lacks a supportive parental figure. Her stepmother who is supposed to be like a mother figure is actually working against her.
On the other hand, Lord Nelvil’s inheritance from his father leaves him with guilt, grief and a legacy not to merry Corinne. Lord Nelvil, at the end, proves to be more determined that Corinne who is willing to give up her career to be with him. Lord Nelvil, on the other hand, finds a more powerful inheritance that makes him follow his father’s legacy.